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The Versatile Blogger Award

My friend Sarah over at A Place That Does Not Exist has nominated me for The Versatile Blogger Award! Hooray, somebody out there likes me, they really do! Wha? I’m a sucker for compliments on my writing ability; it’s definitely one of my vain points that I like to have stroked on occasion. And as Sarah is someone who is a talented writer and queen of snark, I certainly appreciate it coming from her (psst, I might like her — who’d’ve thunk it?!).

Part of this whole rigmarole is nominating people that the recipient thinks are also awesome, which (to me) makes it like a chain latter that people actually want to get. So, without further ado, here are my fifteen nominations:

Hopefully I’ll actually remember to lovingly pester people to let them know I like them. I always hate to be a pest, yanno? But definitely, everyone on this list writes things worth reading. A few are a bit haitus-y right now, but that doesn’t take away from their talents and insights!

If any of y’all are intending to accept an pass on the award, the ‘rules’ are as follows:

1. Display the Award Certificate on your blog.
2. Announce your win with a post. Make sure to post a link back to me as a ‘thank you’ for the nomination.
3. Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers.
4. Drop them a comment to tip them off after you have linked them in the post.
5. Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

So that leaves, for me, seven interesting things to share!

1. I was a registered model… as a baby. Mom said I never actually got a gig though, due to always being the wrong size. But it still continues to amuse me to this date that I was once, nominally, a model. And, to be fair, I was stinkin’ cute as a kiddo.

2. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve moved in my life. I *think* it’s 16? It’s not a patch on my mother, who I believe is in excess of 40 moves in her life.

3. I’m a dual national — American, and British. I was born and (mainly) raised in Texas, and moved to the UK to marry a Brit. I received my second citizenship about two years ago; my kiddo was born with both (the lucky bratinka). I know that’s in my bio, but just in case y’all hadn’t made it that far!

4. I attended a prestigious art school for high school – Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas. It killed my love of making music in a hardcore way; I was a band geek, and the teacher was a fan of negative reinforcement. I don’t flourish in that sort of environment, or yanno, one where half the teachers are shit-talking me behind my back and accusing me of corrupting the school. Um… sure. Not. *shakes head* I have mild bitterness now because it would have been nice if anyone had clued in enough to try and help me, yanno? That would have been much nicer than bullshit accusations that they couldn’t even grow up enough to bring directly to me.

5. Having that first love ruined for me, I dropped out of community college and joined the Air Force. There I was able to pursue my second love — language. I did six years as a Russian linguist, which… well. I loved the job, but hated the people and the petty bullshit politics. The number one reason I was given to stay in was that nobody could avoid office politics, so I might as well deal with them there. Yeah, no… I won that one — I married into a family business. My biggest drama is my father-in-law being a bit of a space invader, but at least I can whap him with a rolled-up newspaper if I need to! *grins*

6. I’ve been an avid video gamer as long as I can remember. My earliest such memories were playing Atari on a Saturday morning before everyone else got up, specifically during G.I. Joe. My parents didn’t want me to watch it for some reason that I’m not sure I ever knew. I was a loyal Nintendo-ist until N64; at that point I felt the games weren’t oriented towards the more serious gamer, and I switched to Playstation. I mainly game on PC now, where my love of The Sims would have many ‘real’ gamers turning their nose up and shunning me… to which I smile, and remember getting my PC start with Civilization on Wolfenstein 3D, and MMOs before World of Warcraft made them ‘cool’.

7. I apparently come off a lot more confident and definitive than I think I do. I’ve heard often that people think that the opinions I’m putting forth are rock solid and that arguing serves no purpose, which makes me really sad. I like offering a strong opinion because I *WANT* people to offer other opinions. I love intelligent, respectful discussion. After all, how can anyone (and I mean anyone) have a real opinion about anything until it has been shaped and tumbled about by being exposed to other viewpoints?!

Congrats! And I am with you on the importance of having strong opinions and give-and-take over how to look at something the best way for everybody involved. : ) I hate it when people get milquetoast and won’t chime in with their own views.